


as you please

by verity



Series: tween wolf [47]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV), Waltzing With Wolves
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Pack Dynamics, Regency Romance, Romance Novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 05:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erica didn't mean to take the book.</p>
            </blockquote>





	as you please

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blue_rocket_frost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_rocket_frost/gifts).



> It's been a while since _Waltzing With Wolves_ showed up. Previously seen in [this tumblr post](http://ladyofthelog.tumblr.com/post/49156975763/tween-wolf-bonus-waltzing-with-wolves-werewolf) and ["to grow a pack."](http://archiveofourown.org/works/781200)

Erica didn't mean to take the book.

 _Waltzing With Wolves_ was just in the back of Stiles's Jeep, Erica's purse tipped over as they rounded a corner, and she frantically scooped everything on the floor inside: it was an innocent mistake.

Okay, that's a lie. She totally meant to take the book.

 

> "It was all a ruse," Cecilia said flatly. "Dorothea—"
> 
> "Your cousin is not yet out." Vigny lowered his eyes. He was still clutching the handkerchief with clawed fingers, Dorothea's lackluster needlework running around the hem. "She is still young—I can hardly ask your mother for her hand."
> 
> Cecilia snatched the wisp of cambric from him. She barely had to inhale to catch the notes of Dorothea's skin and sweat, the scent so strong it must have laid against her bosom for ages. "Is it her youth? Her untutored _charm_? Her—"
> 
> "Her music," Vigny said. "Whenever I call on you, she's always playing."
> 
> "She's atrocious," Cecilia said, eyes wide. She had thought herself shocked beyond belief when Vigny made his confession, but apparently she'd been wrong. What wolf, what alpha, what Lord could be wooed by her cousin's graceless abuse of the pianoforte?
> 
> "She is equal to Mozart, and I'll hear no ill of her," said Vigny.
> 
> Cecilia choked back a rebuttal. "I can hardly be put out by the loss of such a suitor," she said after some moments had passed. "Forgive me, my Lord. I mistook you for a man of discerning taste."
> 
> Vigny arched a bold eyebrow. "Will you go to your alpha, then? Do you wish either of us such unhappiness?"
> 
> "No." Cecilia took a deep breath to compose herself before she looked Vigny in the eye. It was as her mother had said all along—to be an alpha was to put the needs of the pack before her own, to do the hard work of diplomacy before indulging in the comfort of sentiment. She needed no reddened sight, no hulking form to take on that mantle. "If you take Archibald into your pack, I shall do everything to smooth the way for you."
> 
> "I mistook you for a fool, Lady Cecilia," Vigny said, inclining his head. "Very well. It shall be as you say."

"Laundry, Erica." Her dad sits the basket at the foot of her bed. "I expect to see this folded by dinner time."

"Uh huh," Erica says, turning to the next page.

 

> "Dorothea needs no dowry, nor Marianne," Cecilia finished, crossing her arms. "She'll be wed to Archibald in no time at all, should you give your permission."
> 
> "A union of convenience for them both, I imagine." Lady Merriwether looked up from the revised marriage contract at last. "You seem to have everything accounted for."
> 
> "The estate Archibald has entailed upon him will widen our own borders," Cecilia said. "That will doubly strengthen us."
> 
> "When Barrington fills him with pups, yes," her mother said.
> 
> Cecilia huffed, willing her cheeks not to flush. "That's an old alphas' tale, Mother."
> 
> "Don't you tell me about alpha wisdom," her mother said, but her tone was fond. "You've gone to a great deal of trouble to secure that poet of yours, Cecy. Are you still so set on him that you'd enlist a sorcerer to break from me if I denied you?"
> 
> "I'd be no worthy mate if I did, and no alpha," Cecilia said. She gathered up her skirts and knelt before her mother—her alpha—and bent her head in supplication. Comfort leached into her bones as soon as her mother cupped her cheek, leaned down to kiss the top of Cecilia's head.
> 
> Lady Merriwether let a long minute pass before she spoke again. "I'm very proud of you, my dear."

 

"Laundry, Erica," her dad says again. "Dinner's in ten."

Erica groans, eyes still on the page. "One more chapter?"

 

> "Will you take me here?" Cecilia said. She couldn't tear her eyes from the ivory perfection of William's skin beneath the moonlight. "Spill my maidenhood on our territory?"
> 
> "That wouldn't be very proper," her husband—her _mate_ —said. He smelled headily of fresh blood and incense from the ceremony. "Show me how to release you from your stays."
> 
> "You may rend them," she said. "As you please."

 

" _Dinner_ ," Erica's mom says.

Erica fumbles for something to use as a bookmark.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [ladyofthelog](http://ladyofthelog.tumblr.com) on tumblr and I've read a lot of romance novels.


End file.
